Four Playable Sub Races in Next WoW Expansion?

Players have been hopeful for more racial customization, with the addition of the Lightforged Draenei from the Army of the Light faction. Based on a discovery made by KayRule, speculation points to four possible playable sub-races in the future--perhaps in the next WoW expansion after Legion. Perhaps we'll learn more at BlizzCon 2017.\r\rKeep in mind this is all speculation based on datamining - this could simply be a new way of categorizing data. Also - possible spoiler warning.\r\rThe new possible subraces are: Void Elf and Lightforged Draenei for Alliance, Nightborne and Highmountain Tauren for Horde. \r\rCredit to KayRule and the 8.0 Speculation Thread for noticing the data, and RedShirtGuy's writeup for summarizing all of the information.\r\rHere's the summary provided by RedShirtGuy:\rKayRule had looked through the \u201cchrraces\u201d folder (WH edit: file), which contains data for all races, playable and NPC alike, that can equip armor. At the very bottom of the list were four new entries: Nightborne, Hightmountain Tauren, Lightforged Draenei, and \u201cVoid Elf.\u201d Stranger still was their data for \u201cCreateScreenFile\u201d and \u201cSelectScreenFile.\u201d This information is used to indicate what the background shows up on the character creation screen. Non player races that can equip gear, like fel orcs, naga, vrykul, and forest trolls, always have entries of \u201c0\u201d for those fields as they are not playable and would never appear on the character creation screen. Not only do the four new entries have values for what background should show up during character creation, they\u2019re the same entries as certain other races.\r\rWe have confirmed with our tools that the ChrRaces.db2 file was updated with those 4 new rows early on in the 7.3.0 PTR over the summer.\r\r\r\rNightborne\rThe Nightborne were a major focus of early Legion as players helped free the city from Gul'dan and aid the Nightfallen rebellion. The Comprehensive Suramar Guide explains all the quests, achievements, and major characters found in the zone.\r\rThe Nightborne were Highborne Elves that sealed themselves off during the War of the Ancients, protecting themselves from the blast of the Great Sundering. Removed from the rest of civilization, the Nightborne grew increasingly reliant on the magical powers of the Nightwell, which greatly altered their appearance.\r\rWhile Suramar was the home of notable Night Elf Tyrande Whisperwind, dialogue on the Vindicaar between Silgryn and Liadrin implies a growing bond between the Nightborne and the Horde. Throughout the Insurrección campaign, the Blood Elves were notably more compassionate to the Nightborne--they shared similar struggles with magic addiction.\r\rSilgryn: In my entire lifetime, I never left the borders of Suramar. To see this place is to understand the fate that almost befell my people.\t\r\tLady Liadrin: And nearly mine as well. The sin'dorei also had a leader who struck a bargain with the Legion, poisoning us in the process.\rSilgryn: An unbridled thirst for power is the most terrible corruption of all. How did your people find their path forward?\t\r\tLady Liadrin: We banded together to fight for our place on Azeroth. And we realized we needed allies to stand with us.\rSilgryn: IAnd has the Horde served that purpose for you?\t\r\tLady Liadrin: It has. Make no mistake, ours has not been an easy road, and we have struggled through dark times. But together we face a world that has often turned its back on us. Together, we find strength.\rSilgryn: A valuable perspective, Lady Liadrin. You have given me much to ponder.\r\r\r\rHere is a variety of Nightborne appearances, datamined during the Legion alpha:\r\r\r\r\r\rVoid Elf\rBack in the Patch 7.3 PTR, we found several Void-themed weapons and icons. They didn't actually appear in game, but we later learned in the story "A Thousand Years of War" that Alleria has embraced the Void. It would make sense that Alleria would side with the Alliance, as she was shocked to hear that Sylvanas had joined the Horde, in a conversation on the Vindicaar:\r\r\tAlleria Windrunner: I must know, Vereesa. What fate befell our sister?\r\tVereesa Windrunner: Give me a moment. I will do my best to explain...\r\tAlleria Windrunner: Impossible! I refuse to believe she now leads the Horde. Not after all they did to our people during the war.\r\tVereesa Windrunner: There is more. I... I am not sure how to explain the rest. Or if this is even the time or place to-\r\tAlleria Windrunner: Sisters are complicated. Especially the undead ones.\r\tVereesa Windrunner: Perhaps we had best discuss the matter in private. Come, sister.\r\r\r\r\r \r\rBased on datamining, it appears that the model used to create the character for Void Elf calls for the Blood Elf model, but they share screenFileDataID with the Night Elves. Here are the silhouettes:\r \r\rAnd here is Alleria absorbing the Void in the Seat of the Triumvirate cutscene:\r\r\r\rHere is the void model of Alleria which she uses during the L'ura encounter in Seat of the Triumvirate:\r\r\r\r\rLightforged Draenei\rWe've gotten quite familiar with the appearance of the Lightforged Draenei in 7.3 for the Army of the Light faction. This initially sparked the conversation about sub-races, and here's what Blizzard told Blizzplanet back at a gamescom interview:\r\rWe noticed that there is a new draenei model. The Lightforged draenei. There is a lot of customization on their models for the existing draenei. Are we going to see any of that in the future for our draenei characters, or is that just pretty much only for NPC models?\r\rIon: For now just the NPC models. I can\u2019t say what the future holds, but yeah, we were just trying to build out a very different ecology of draenei. These are the Army of the Light (Lightforged), and they have been in the direct service of the Naaru, fighting the Legion, fighting these battles across worlds, so we wanted to make them very visually distinct; and as we were throwing out a full cast of NPC characters, we wanted a lot more customization to help distinguish them from each other.\r\rNow, in terms of player customization, we know that is something that there is always demand for; and for sure, that is the sort of thing that we would want to revisit in the future, and just open up customization options wherever possible.\r\r\r\r\r\rHighmountain Tauren\rPlayers have been interested in playing multiple variants of Taurens throughout the years, such as the Los taunka from Wrath. The Highmountain Tauren, led by Mayla Monte Alto, are the subject of the story quests in the Highmountain Zone.\r\rThese Tauren come with additional warpaint on their faces, arms, and chest. \r\r\r

Comentarios

Comentario de pikamaster

on 2017-10-21T19:16:42-05:00

i hope there is more to jsut those 4 sub-races.\r\rSub-race is not a bad idea, but i prefer really new races.\r\rSub-race should have been implemented long time ago, but for me, it's too late for that.\r\rNew races need to be added

Comentario de omedon666

on 2017-10-21T19:19:45-05:00

I have one wish for this coming expansion: I want a way to play an elf paladin that can logistically function with my mainly alliance circle of friends. I don't care if that comes from new race-class combos, new races\/subraces, or some kind of softening of the faction divide, I'll take anything...

If "void elves" can be paladins, and are alliance, I am all over that!

Comentario de Padrin

I really hope the next expansion overhauls the character customisation process and adds subraces like the ones listed above, as well as (but not limited to) mag'har orcs and dark iron dwarves.

Comentario de KittyK

on 2017-10-21T19:24:54-05:00

I'd like to see undead elves (Dark Ranger Model) for the Forsaken.

Comentario de Automag

on 2017-10-21T19:30:15-05:00

This is reading a lot into very little information.....

Comentario de SurvivalHunter

on 2017-10-21T19:30:23-05:00

Reckon High Elves is just too much to hope for.

Comentario de Jevnaker

on 2017-10-21T19:30:25-05:00

i hope they will fix the current elves and dranei being stuck as the new models. because i have the new models turned off cus i hate how they look.

Comentario de moistnoice

on 2017-10-21T19:34:49-05:00

zandalari trolls and upright standing draenor orcs\r^&*! would be good

Comentario de Dualwielder

on 2017-10-21T19:35:41-05:00

I would like to see what the deal is with the datamined void elf stuff, that we already knew about.\rBut other than that, I will have to agree with Automag that this is far fetched, even if very interesting.

Comentario de Rybat117

on 2017-10-21T19:38:03-05:00

Would totally play a Broken Draenei. I guess these are good too though.

Comentario de serafasto

on 2017-10-21T19:41:25-05:00

finally...... Murloc

Comentario de perculia

on 2017-10-21T19:41:35-05:00

I'm excited for more elves! Of course I have to put a disclaimer in the post that this is datamining and nothing is confirmed, but I really like the idea of a Void Elf belonging to the Night Elves and hope this is true. It would fit my shadow priest's backstory really well!

Comentario de Donhorn

on 2017-10-21T19:43:57-05:00

I'd do whatever it was I needed to do for Highmountain antlers on my druid so fast...

Comentario de omedon666

on 2017-10-21T19:46:32-05:00

Blizzard are the masters of capitalizing on "sexy" aesthetics (see the D3 Demon hunter, and Overwatch's Reaper), and they would make so much bank on race changes alone if they opened a class diverse option of nightborne and void elves up to the horde and alliance respectively, especially if they covered class combos where people currently have to stomach "less sexy" race options in order to play one of everything (looking at you, all male Shamans and humans!)\r\rI am all about some "World of Elfcraft!" Let us be beautiful regardless of class or faction!

Comentario de Panthrax

on 2017-10-21T19:47:21-05:00

Where is my Arakoa?

Comentario de ZeroEdgeir

on 2017-10-21T19:47:40-05:00

I have one wish for this coming expansion: I want a way to plan an elf paladin that can logistically function with my mainly alliance circle of friends. I don't care if that comes from new race-class combos, new races\/subraces, or some kind of softening of the faction divide, I'll take anything...\r\rIf "void elves" can be paladins, and are alliance, I am all over that!\r\rWell, Neera and her relative, are both Night Elf Paladins, introduced as Champions for the class. Precedence is now present.

Comentario de omedon666

on 2017-10-21T19:48:26-05:00

I have one wish for this coming expansion: I want a way to plan an elf paladin that can logistically function with my mainly alliance circle of friends. I don't care if that comes from new race-class combos, new races\/subraces, or some kind of softening of the faction divide, I'll take anything...\r\rIf "void elves" can be paladins, and are alliance, I am all over that!\r\rWell, Neera and her relative, are both Night Elf Paladins, introduced as Champions for the class. Precedence is now present.\r\rThat is one of my most promising lottery tickets, yes! So hyped to see if it pays off!